The Met had no chance against race-card Ali

'Dizaei wasn't just a bent copper. He was a brilliant politician playing on the belief that racism is the defining characteristic of British society'

The only thing black about Commander Ali Dizaei is his hair dye. Yet this
Iranian-born policeman, the most senior officer to be jailed for corruption
in more than 30 years, was a president of the National Black Police
Association. The NBPA was not the only organisation to have been made a fool
of by this arch-manipulator of racial politics: the BBC had made his
dishonest memoir its Radio 4 Book of the Week, and The Guardian was also a
willing media partner in his campaign to become the country’s most powerful
policeman.

It is difficult for any organisation to admit to an error of judgment, and the
bigger that error, the harder it is. So perhaps it is not so surprising that
the NBPA’s immediate reaction to Dizaei’s guilty verdict was to say that his
conviction had “come as a surprise”. Meanwhile, this bent copper’s newspaper
of choice seemed to